Last night, as I made my way onto the last stretch of bike path on my daily commute, I encountered a large, furry character leaping from a clump of trees. It was around 11 pm, and very dark, and I with my headphones, less-than-perfect eyesight, and poorly-powered headlight considered this figure to be a legitimate threat. I swerved to my left, nearly running off the path as I glanced frantically back--I could not see my assailant because of the hood of my jacket, this being the latter part of October. There came from the creature a deep, aggressive grunting, UGH! UGH! much like a real gorilla that's getting pissed off and charging.
I flew up that hill as I relished the surge of adrenaline following my fear and what eventually turned into rage. A minute later I was considering calling the police, but quickly reconsidered; That rarely solves anything. I then promptly considered that I could turn around and try to find this beast, and try my hand at a confrontation. I figured I would have the advantage on him, he being dressed in cumbersome fur and mask-- those eyeholes are always poorly designed. But I was also suffering an injured shoulder (from my most recent bicycle accident), as well as a bad knee and obviously clouded judgement.
I rode on, homeward, replaying the event in my mind. I was breathing hard, climbing the gentle hill to my suburban neighborhood.
When I got home my housemate suggested that it was a Halloween gag, but that is still eleven days away. It was likely a full grown man, tall anyway, but his course suggested that he was only trying to scare me, not remove me from my bicycle and rob me or otherwise assault me.
<<<<<<< UPDATE >>>>>>>
I have seen this beast out amongst men as he sups upon burritos and soda. I was engaged at the moment with my own enchiladas, but was also really drunk, and considered going and punching him or something, but couldn't bring myself to abandon the enchiladas.
